Natsume's Book of Friends Season 7

Episode 7

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Natsume's Book of Friends (TV 7) ?

Community score: 4.5

There was a new yokai in this week's episode, but don't get the wrong idea: this episode wasn't about yokai at all. Instead, it's a deep dive into Natsume's closest female friend, Taki Tooru. “A Difficult Two” feels like an indecipherable phrase and an odd translation to me, but I don't know enough Japanese to dispute it. I'm choosing to believe that it refers to the fraught relationship between Taki and her brother Isamu, who clearly adore one another but who are too reserved to confide in their respective sibling. This episode utilizes a supernatural puzzle in order to help Taki's family, still reeling from her grandfather's passing, find healing and solace in one another. It's an episode of ups and downs—while it excels in expanding Taki's character, the yokai component feels like an afterthought.

At the beginning of the episode, Taki's interaction with a classmate demonstrates her tendency toward quiet to the point of intimidation. The other girls clearly see their tall, pretty classmate as an appealing prince-like figure, but she's not approachable at all! That's why rumors are able to spread so quickly about Taki's alleged new boyfriend; though Natsume quickly realizes that this mystery man is nobody other than Taki's big brother, who has been just out of frame for the entirety of the series thus far. It's been since season 5 episode 5 that Taki has had an episode focused on her, but it's easy to remember the basics. Because her kind grandfather was able to see yokai, Taki has always been intrigued by the supernatural. Even though her introductory episode, “The Maiden's Circle,” (season 2, episode 6) had her being pursued by a mean-spirited ayakashi, Taki believes in the innate goodness of yokai. Her brother, Isamu, however, is the complete opposite. Don't let his cute, little-brother look fool you: the kid is a hardened skeptic. In a way, Taki and Isamu have had opposite reactions to grief over their grandfather; Taki finds closeness to him through the yokai world while Isamu is hellbent on denying its existence.

If Isamu sounds familiar, your ears do not deceive: that's Jun Fukuyama's voice. And if there was any doubt that Isamu is Taki's brother, his reaction to Nyanko-sensei immediately dispels any doubt. Just like his sister, Isamu adores cute things. And it's lucky that he does. After one of his excursions to haunted locales to prove that yokai don't exist, an errant yokai has attached itself to him. Unless he's squeezing Sensei, the yokai's presence makes it nearly impossible for Isamu to bear being in his childhood home. Why is that? It's never fully explained! Instead, Natsume, Taki, and Isamu spend the episode ransacking the Taki house for a keyhole that fits a strange skeleton key Isamu found taped to his childhood diary, and which he has a hunch has something to do with the strange feeling he gets in the house. It doesn't, to be clear, but the payoff is much better: a sentimental gift from Isamu and his grandfather to the new baby Tooru, showing that while Isamu may be as reserved as his sister, he certainly has loved her since before she was born. Apparently they'd been searching for stones with flower designs (could they mean chrysanthemum stones?) but the hand drawn flowers are even sweeter than if they had found the stones pre-engraved.

Why couldn't Isamu relax at home with the yokai on his back? Maybe the yokai was urging Isamu back home, so it could return from whence it came. It's hard to know for sure, since the entire issue is resolved in just one line from Nyanko-sensei. The episode is stronger if you look at it as another step along Natsume's path toward becoming closer to his friends. Taki knew all about Natsume, but he knew very little about her. When she confided in him about her brother, he immediately became a bolder version of himself, questioning Isamu so directly that even Isamu had to call it out. In the end, it's hardly subtext to say that Isamu gave Natsume his blessing to begin dating Taki if he wants to! I doubt we'll see Isamu again, but his brief presence served to help Natsume—and the audience—know Taki a lot better.

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Natsume's Book of Friends Season 7 is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about model kits at Gunpla 101. She spends her days teaching her two small Newtypes to bring peace to the space colonies.